CITY TARGETS DRUG DEALERS

Hartford police officials Thursday promised a small crowd of residents that they would intensify efforts to crack down on drug dealers along Martin Street in the city's North End.

But community activists who led the meeting said residents need to do more to help police, pointing to a poor showing of fewer than 10 people who showed up to talk about crime issues. Seven police officials, including Chief Bruce P. Marquis, attended the meeting.

"We have got to get people to turn out," said Larry Woods, who has led numerous anti-crime marches in the North End over the past year and a half. "The police can't do it alone."

The meeting was scheduled after a longtime Martin Street resident, Mendie Cade, reached out to police officials to tell them she was fed up with drug dealers operating next door to her house.

Marquis, who met with Cade earlier this week, told Cade and other residents Thursday that he would do what he could to make life harder for criminals on Martin Street.

But Marquis also took time to praise Woods, who plans to leave Hartford next month to tend to his sick mother in Florida. Marquis also criticized an article that recently appeared in The Courant about Woods and his movement.

"There are a lot of naysayers out there, Larry, but you've just got to continue doing the job the best you can," he said as the small crowd applauded.

Woods responded that he was hurt by the article but had faith that his successor, Donald Johnson, would continue to work with police to improve the city's troubled neighborhoods.